re: “If you don’t like the casting, don’t watch the show” – Cleopatra

I guess Egypt isn't going to watch the show...

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Egyptians say the influential streaming service is dragging an ancient queen into a modern, and decidedly Western, debate — about Black representation in Hollywood — in which she has no real place.

"I am against the film because it is pushing an Afrocentric agenda, regardless of the historical accuracy of whether Cleopatra was Black or White," Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Monica Hanna told CBS News.

"They are imposing the identity politics of the 21st century and appropriating the ancient Egyptian past."

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, the government agency in charge of heritage, declared the show a “falsification of Egyptian history.”

A popular television host accused Netflix of trying to “take over our Egyptian culture.”

An Egyptian lawyer filed a complaint demanding that the streaming service be shut down in the country.

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Netflix response...

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“We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them,” Jada Pinkett Smith, who produced “African Queens,” said in a Netflix-sponsored article about the show.

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Egypt responds...

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Seizing the chance to whip up Egyptian pride, government-owned media dedicated airtime on three different evening talk shows recently to slamming “African Queens.”

"We have known for thousands of years that Cleopatra is of Greek origin and was born in Egypt. This is a fact," Mahmoud El-Semiry, the lawyer who filed the complaint, told CBS News. "Our main objection is the falsification of these facts. It is not about being Black or White or even Yellow. Let's say they wanted to portray Cleopatra as a man, we would also object to that."

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Anyone that doesn't realize that blacks try to claim anyone to help pump up their low self-esteem doesn't follow shite much.

IDGAF if they want to be kangs and shite. You know, because that shite is important except when it's time to commit genocide, abort 20 million babies, loot-burn-destroy the community, etc. After that, then remember you're a kang whatever other title helps.

Carry on.

The bad thing is they broke out an old historian to say Cleopatra was black. This isn't the "stunt" casting of making a white person black. They are actually arguing Cleopatra was black. Well, until Egypt stepped into the conversation.

And yes, when the ratings suck, they will blame evil old white men for not watching and not that they made a crappy mini-series with poor writing and stunt casting.

I refuse to watch because Jada Pinkett is a horrible person. Nothing racial at all. She is just horrible.

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Anyone else think it’s weird for Egyptians to be so bent out of shape about the is? Afterall, cleopatra was an ethnic Greek

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Its really not about Cleopatra for Egypt.

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For many Egyptians, the question is whether Egyptians and their ancient ancestors — geographical location notwithstanding — are African. - NY Times

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Its not a question for Egypt.

They have a LONG history of separating themselves from the African Continent.

From the Director:

“Perhaps it’s not just that I’ve directed a series that portrays Cleopatra as Black, but that I have asked Egyptians to see themselves as Africans, and they are furious at me for that.”

"Egypt sits on the northeast corner of Africa. Its relationship with the continent, however, is deeply ambivalent." (actually, historically hostile.)

"In Greek and Roman times, historians say, Egypt was seen as a major player in the Mediterranean world, the gateway to Africa, rather than fully African."

In the modern world, Afrocentrism latched onto Ancient Egypt which pissed off Egyptians.

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Many Egyptologists and scholars strongly object to Afrocentric Egyptology.

One of the most prominent voices is the world-famous Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawwas, who describes Afrocentrism as a mythical fantasy that aims to usurp Egyptian heritage, yet lacks sufficient evidence to back up its claims.

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This Cleopatra ruckus comes on the heels of Kevin Hart's planned show in Cairo being cancelled after he reportedly said:

“We must teach our children the true history of Black Africans when they were kings in Egypt."

Last year researchers DNA sequenced a Mummy...yes, really.

"They found that the ancient Egyptians were most closely related to the peoples of the Near East, particularly from the Eastern Mediterranean which today includes the countries of Turkey, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

Modern Egyptians share 8% of their genome with central Africans, far more than ancient ones, according to the study, published in the journal Nature Communications. The influx of sub-Saharan genes only occurred within the last 1,500 years."

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Anyone else think it’s weird for Egyptians to be so bent out of shape about the is? Afterall, cleopatra was an ethnic Greek. you would think Greeks would be the most pissed

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Anyone else think it’s weird for Egyptians to be so bent out of shape about the is?

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I'd imagine that having the history of your people disregarded for an outright political lie is infuriating

I’m outraged by pretty much all race and/or gender swaps

It serves one purpose: political agenda

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Were you equally outraged when Hamilton was portrayed by a black guy on Broadway?

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No one was claiming he was, also Hamilton came out before the “great awokening” before concepts like have the best person for the job was deemed “white supremacy” before quotas were set for films to be considered for Oscars before a life long lefty like Tom Hanks apologized for playing a gay man because he’s not gay before untold number of remakes were done with gender/race swaps. I’m sorry but it was the far left that made everything about race, you don’t get to act shocked when the other side notices and pushed back

Waaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of you

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Greeks, Arabs, Berbers, etc are all OG whites.

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I think people get wrapped up in that "white" really means Caucasian, so they don't get it. They also don't understand how dark Greeks, Italians, Libyans, etc., can be.